Out of the Frying Pan...

"I am afraid you have a traitor in your team."

This one sentence kept repeating itself on Saki Homura's head as she and her team

It can't be true. Yet at the same time, what old man Hamarr said made sense.

But who?

Saki could feel her eyes become heavy as she felt exhaustion creep in. She yawned as she decided to think about the matter again tomorrow, stretching her arms outward before curling up by the fire.

It wasn't long before she felt herself being shaken.

"Saki! Saki, wake up!" a male voice called her.

The voice sounded familiar but she was too sleepy to think about it. She wearily tried to push away whoever it was that was trying to take her sleep away.

The shaking stopped for a moment, then she heard a low, angry growl before she felt her arms get pinned on both sides of her head.

"Open your eyes or I'll kiss you," the voice said.

Saki could feel her adrenaline rush through her body at the sound of the threat. Quickly, she fought against her drowsiness and forced her eyes open.

Leaning on top of her, his face only inches from hers, was Hunter Wang.

Realizing the position they are in, Saki was about to lift her knee when Hunter quickly sat up by her side, probably sensing her intentions.

Saki felt her face grow hot.

"WHAT THE F---"

Her words were cut off as Hunter covered her mouth with his hand. He placed a finger against his lips with his other hand then nodded his head to the direction of their companions.

Everyone was on the ground, sleeping.

"They're all asleep," Hunter whispered closely to her ear. She could feel his breath tickling the side of her face.

Suddenly, Saki felt a piercing pain on her eyes. She tried blinking her eyes while pushing Hunter's hand away.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he saw the pained expression on her face.

"My eyes," she replied, simply. "I need to remove my contacts. Where's my bag?"

Hunter handed over her backpack which was lying at his feet. She quickly fished out her lens case and proceeded to remove her contact lenses from her eyes.

Hunter kept his eyes on their surroundings, spreading his senses to make sure no one, or nothing was around. He felt something grip tightly on his wrist. He turned to see Saki staring ahead of them.

"Hunter..." she called.

He noticed the fear in her voice. Unconsciously, he shifted over and took her hand in his. "What is it?"

"Faint shadows… like smoke… hovering over everyone." She gripped his hand tighter. "Can you see it?"

Hunter's face showed concern but said nothing.

He turned towards the other's direction and walked to where Hamarr is.

Saki gasped as she saw the shadow rising up from Hunter as well; blacker and more solid than the others, tinged with a faint blue light.

A realization dawned on her and she raised one of her hands to her face.

True enough, a shadow is swaying and dancing from the tip of her fingers; as black as Hunter's but with a slight magenta hue.

She ran towards Hunter as he was helping Hamarr sit up.

"I'm sorry…" Hamarr said in a slurred voice. He appeared to be struggling to stay awake.

"The barrier wasn't strong enough, boss. Katana's enchantment was barely holding it in the first place…"

"What are you two talking about?" Saki interrupted. She can barely contain her panic.

She kept seeing double which added to her rising emotions.

It seems like some other images are mingled with the shadows and she has difficulty looking at Hamarr as well.

"Is it drugs? I keep seeing afterimages." Saki blinked.

"No, it isn't," Hunter assured her.

She drank deep from her water bottle and splashed some of it on her face. She put back her contacts and that seemed to have helped a little.

Hamarr was trying to stand up but Hunter held up his hand.

"Just tell us what you can," he urged the old man.

Hamarr looked apprehensively at Saki but Hunter's words appeared to have made its impact.

"Foolish pride, that is all. I never thought that we would need to come back here so i did not put a stronger hold on it. There is no excuse. This is entirely on me."

"No one is blaming you. Tell us how to stop it." Hunter put his hand on the old man's shoulder.

"NO, it is my duty to protect all of you. Just give me a minute and I will be able to stand."

"Stand, maybe...but fight?" Hunter gripped his shoulder more firmly as if to emphasize his words.

"DAMN IT!!" He pounded on the ground with his fist. Then he squared his shoulders and looked at Hunter's eyes.

"Awaken me, my lord."

There is something in his formal tone that made Saki's pulse race.

She heard it before.

"You know it's not yet time." Hunter's tone is oddly matched with Hamarr's inflection.

"Then Katana is the only one that can stop it." Hamarr's head drooped down.

"Would you tell me what is going on?" Saki is holding back her anger.

"Alright...I might need your help. After all, you are strong enough to withstand its aura."

Hunter stood up and looked directly into Saki's eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat. She secretly hoped that her eyes did not show weakness. Her doubts made her want to grind her teeth but she composed herself.

"I'm waiting, my lord," she smirked.

"Stop that!" he said, visibly irritated.

The atmosphere relaxed a bit.

"There was an ancient curse on this place. Thousands of souls have been stuck in here for centuries and they eventually manifested as one malevolent and powerful entity. Katana suppressed this entity for a long time, until we came and got her."

"You said 'her'." She raised her eyebrow. The one she knew really annoyed him. "Are you telling me a ghost story now?"

He ignored her and was about to speak again when a blood-curdling scream echoed around them.

"Yes, you can call it that. In fact, it is called the Ghost of Iya Valley", his eyes looked eerily vivid; their color livelier than the hazy surroundings.

Saki was so fixed on those eyes that all she ever heard were a spattering of barely intelligible words.

"...even listening?"

"Huh, what?" Saki blinked.

"This creature is dangerous. It has the ability to track our scent, it's aura is so heavy it can make you drowsy and it can reanimate the recently dead and make them do its bidding."

"Great. Ghosts and zombies," she laughed nervously.

"It won't be my duty to convince you, little girl. You have to just accept it. We have to think fast and move faster. It won't be long before it gets here."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I must admit the direness of the situation even without your ghost story. What do we do?"

"It would be a nightmare trying to protect these many people. We have to lure it away from here… and we must get Katana. Hamarr was right. We are not strong enough to stop this thing on our own." Hunter, as he spoke, was making strange gestures in front of the barely conscious Hamarr.

"If what you say is true, apart from getting that sword of yours, what can we DO?"

"Gear up for a fight. I'm guessing it is done putting its poison on every corpse in a 5 kilometer radius. Those that it can't put to sleep, it throws an indefatigable army until they can no longer move. Then it feeds again until it is satiated."

He finally got up and put on a strangely glowing metal knuckle.

Saki, sensing the unspoken command in Hunter's tone drew her blade.

An icy calm came upon her.

"Let's go", she nodded at him.

"Oh...and Hunter", she said, her voice dripping with honey.

"DON'T EVER CALL ME A LITTLE GIRL AGAIN".